But personal income grew only 0.1 percent last month — meaning that consumers dug into their savings in order to boost spending. According to the bureau: "Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 3.6 percent in September, compared with 4.1 percent in August."

"Given the state of consumer sentiment and the savings rate, we should see moderate spending, at best, going forward," said Sean Incremona, a senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York who correctly forecast the increase in purchases. "The savings rate is just one of those warning signs that says we're not pulling ourselves out vigorously, so the economy still has a lot of vulnerability."

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